Dumping fork



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Demi 8, 1925.

w. WALLACE DUMPING FORK- Filed March 50. 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 To all whom it may oon-oem.'

Patented Dec. 8, 1925.

fu-Ni'rizo STATES- ASSIGNOR TO NEW YORK BRICK A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.'

-nUMrING FORK.

Application filed MarchD, .1925'. Serial No. 19,213.

Be it known that I, WILLIAM W. NVLLAE, a-citizenlf'of the United' States,'and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State 0f Illinois, have invented an Improvement in Dumping Forks, of which-the` following description," in connection withi the accompanying drawings, is a specificationflike reference .characters on the drawings representing like parts.

My present invention relates to lifting devices, and more particularly to an iinproved truck loading and dumping fork for use in connection with the handling of brick.

The present invention is an improvement over prior apparatus of this class such as R. C. Penlield Patent No. 1,265,106, granted May 7, 1918, and improved apparatus disclosed in my Patent No. 1,474,806 dated Nov; 20, 1923. In prior apparatus it has been impractical to utilizemechanical'brick lifting devices toremove the brick from the kiln after the burning operation, such` brick being more advantageously removed in stacks' or units. This diliiculty is caused by the fact that the rows or courses of brick in a kiln shrink unevenly and vary in their horizontal ali nment. Not :only does'each course .of bric shrink ina somewhat different manner from those adjacent to it, when burned,but`such variation is apt to be distorted throughout the plurality of courses. Consequently. the rows ofbrick .in a kiln,`after a kiln is burned, are ina wave like formation, the distortion being mostly lin a horizontal plane. Because of this fact,

itv has been impossible to utilize a setting device with brick engaging lingers 4 in alignment as a line of brick itself was distorted i and never in alignment after thebrick are burned. In my prior patent above referred to, the utilization of a -brick lifting fork in the situation outlined is accomplished by providing independently movable'. fingers 'which will follow thevvariation in the line 4of the bottom courses of the brick in the stack or pile, thus gradually bringing such bottom courses into alignment. In my present invention, however, I have accomplished practically the same result and am enabled to make a more rigid fork than that described and claimed in my patent above referred to, and do this by providing a fork, the fingers of which are extremely 11 by brackets 12 are hanger narrow sided, this structure enablinff me to force the fork in between the rows fjorming the bottom course of bricks in a unit stack or pile. By means of this structure I am enabled to make a device that is more easily fand solidly locked in the brick, lifting position-and which may be readily released f from vsuch locking position, the plurality of teeth forming the lifting element being secured to a pivotally mounted member sdv that the pluralityof teeth rotate in unison tfso 1lischarge the load of brick from the The principal object of `my. invention,

therefore, is an improved brick lifting and dumping fork. 1. Anotherobject of my inventioiigis'an iniproved4 means for brick lifting fingers in a combined lifting and dumping fork.

Otherl objects and `novel features of the.y

construction, and arrangement prising my' invention will appear lasl the description of the invention progresses. i In the accompanying drawings illustrating the tion, l y Fig. 1 is a front elevation; Fig. 2 is a 'sideelevation Fig.l 3 is a horizontal section, taken on theV line 33 of Fig. 2, and

t Fig. 41s a sectional sideelevation'on'the line 4-4 of Fig. 3'.

`My improved fork can be used either with or without the dumping feature, but is eX- of parts compreferred lembodiment lof my inven-- pivotally attaching the plained herein as .comprising .both capabil ities.-A

Referring to the drawings,

1x0 designates an angle 11. Secured tothe the plate 10 and the front face oftheangle bars extending .upward and converging `lat a vpoint any suitable distance abovejthe plate 10,l as clearly shown in Fig. 1J Secured t9 the upper ends of the hanger bars 13 by riveting, orin any other suitable manner,`

are cantilever bars 14;" There are two of the cantilever bars symmetiiically arrangedl with respect to the len f "'of the plate 10 and angle 11,- as clearbars 13, these y shown in Fig. 1,

the cantilever bars a plate of any suitable length and width,- I to which is riveted at'the forward upper end"y front yedge of` are secured, as by riveting, back braces 15, and these braces extending rearwardly and downwardly, as shown in Fig. 2. Along the rear upper edge of the plate 10 is secured an .angle 16 lying parallel to the angle 11, and secured to the angle 1G by brackets 17 arefthe lower ends of the back braces 15. Pivotally attached to the forward and rearward ends of the cantilever bars 14 are suspending links 18, these links being utilized to suspend the loading fork from a crane or other lifting device. Extending between the cantilever bars 14 at the point of connection of the hanger bars 13 therewith is. a tic. rod 19, such rod being secured in position by the nuts 20. Secured to thefront edge of the hanger bars 13 on brackets 21 is a front plate 22,'tl1e upper end of which extends upwardly and rearwardly, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, such upper end bclng slotted to receive the hanger bars. The hanger bars 13 extend downward to a point below the lower edge of the front plate 22, such lower ends being provided with perforations in alignment with each other to receive hinge bars, as will be hereinafter described.

' Numeral 23 designates a finger spacer and hinge weight, this spacer and weight being provided with a plurality of vertically arranged and equally spaced slots in veach of which is adapted to fit the fingers 24. These fingers are in the s hape of an angle, as shownrin Figs. 2 and 4, the forwardly extending portion being the lift-ing portion and on which the load may rest, while the vertically arranged portion fits snugly into the slots referred to as being in the finger spacer and hinge weight. When the fingers are in position in the slots, a finger clamp 25 1s secured to the front face of the finger spacer and hinge weight my means of bolts 26 that extend through the finger spacer and hinge weight and are provided lwith nuts 27 on their rear ends. The fingers 24 and finger spacer 23 are drilled to receive hinge bars or rods 28 from either end of the lifter, lsuch hinge bars or rods being threaded at their inner end and screw into a hinge bar nut 29, as clearly shown in Fig. 1.

Secured to the under face of the plate 10 at the rear thereof and on each side of the center thereof, or substantially in alignment with the back braces 15, are latch shaft bearings 30 and in such bearings is rotatablyr mounted a shaft 31. Secured to the shaft 31 at each of the latch shaft bearings 30 is a locking dog 32. Secured to the top rear surface of the finger spacer and hinge weight 23 by bolts' 34 are locking plates 35, the upper rear portion of which is hardened to reduce wear. v'Ihe locking dog is notched to engage with said locking plate 35 and is adapted to hold the finger spacer 23 and attached fingers 24 in the position shown in .plate 35 and the finger spacer with at;

tached fingers 24 moves into the position shownv in dotted lines in said Fig. 4. Se-

cured to the shaft 31 intermediate its ends,

or substantially midway between the latch shaft bearingsl 30, is a trip lever 36, the handle of which extends rearwardly to any desired distance, and secured to the free end of such trip lever handle is a lanyard 37 and by means of which the same may be operated to trip the finger spacer 23 and attached parts. Formed integral with the trip lever 3G is an upwardly and forwardly extending arm 38, the upper end of which engages with the under face of the plate 10 to limit the rotative movement in an anticlockwise direction of the shaft 31. Adjacent to the upper end of the portion 33 is provided a-perforation in which is secured one end of a spring 39, the other end of this spring ybeing attached to a spring lug 40 secured to the angle 1G by bolt 41. The suspension links 18, as above described, are utilized to suspend the device from a crane, or similar structure, and the sus ending points are such that the fork is he d by a four point suspension; that is, the fingers 24 are held in-their operative position,- as shownin Fig. 2, and in full lines in Fig. 4, horizontal.

The operation of my device is as follows, assuming that the device has been constructcd as above described and that it is desired to load a truck with brick, the brickbeing taken directly from a kiln and in unit loads, the units being of any desired size and preferably within the capacity of the liftingr and dumping fork. It should be noted at this point that the unbalanced weight of the linger spacer 23 is sufficient to cause a rotation thereof and of the attached fingers 24 into the full line position shown in Fig. 4 where the locking dogs 32 engage with the locking plates 35. The crane is now o erated to move the loading and dumping ork into position te engage with the under portion of a unit stack of brick in a kiln, the fingers 24 sliding in between the bottom courses of such unit stack. Then in position, the cra-ne is operated to lift the loading and dumping fork and the load of brick carried to any point desired as, for example, above the body of a truck. When the dumping fork is in proper position, the operator pulls on the lanya-rd 37, rotating the shaft 31 and moving the locking dogs 32 out of engagementwith the locking plates 35 when the weicht of the unit stack of brick will 'rotate the finger spacer 23 and fingers 24 from the full line position shown inQFig. 4 to the dotted position shown in such figure.

`be 'understood that I may shape, and arran -the spirit of the invention. By using the improved-.fork as a distinct lifting and loading or unloading apparatusthe same can be utilized substantially as shown in the said prior patent of R. C. Peneld, particularly Whentransferring brick from a kiln or stack into a car, wagon, or other device and when it is desired to maintain the brick substantially in stacked units. The fork will operate with the individually movable fingers rigidly extended, until the operator desires to p ull the lanyard to release the same. Thus my present improved brick handling apparatus can be used to great advantage either` as a meansV of transferring a mass, unit or pile of brick While mainf tained in their stacked or hacked relation, or as a uick dumping and releasing device to take t e brick lfrom. the kiln or stack, and

'mounted at the lower front end t 'the unbalanced Weight of the and. hinge Weight on its pivotl being greater dump` them into a wagon or other receptacle or .loose pile. l l Having thus describedmyinvention, what I claim as new is:

1. In an improved loading and dumping fork, the combination of a body portion, a iinger spacer 'and hinge lWeight ivotally y ereof, a of arallelly arranged fingers seto said Enger spacer and hinge weight, finger spacer plurality cured than the unbalanced weight of the parallelly arranged fingers on such pivot whereby the finger .spacer and hinge wei ht tend to ro-l tate -about the pivot, means or limiting the rotative movement thereof, and means for holding said finger spacer and hinge weight against reverse rotation..

2. An improved brick handling fork, comprising a plurality of horizontal extend- :sol

ing members adapted to be disalined for loading lbrick thereon, means to maintain said horizontal members thus positioned, or

-to instantl shift same to'an unloading angle to slide ol the brick contained thereon;

In testimony whereof, I have signed my p lname to this speciicatio v WILLIAM W. WALLACE...v 

